Grissom's Daughter
by power31312
Summary: Nick Stokes is in love with Grissom's daughter, who is also a CSI working grave. What happens when Avery is kidnapped and their relationship comes into light?
1. Chapter 1

Avery awoke with a start, her heart pounding in her chest. She glanced over at her sleeping boyfriend before she climbed out of the bed and went into the bathroom. She leaned over the sink and ran the cold water, washing her face and the back of her neck.

The dreams were coming back. They used to haunt her childhood until one day they went away and hadn't come back until today. She shut the water off and went back into the bedroom, quietly slipping under the sheet.

"Are you okay?"

Avery leaned her chin on his chest, kissing it gently. "Yeah, I'm good."

"Worried about tonight?"

Her blue eyes met his brown ones. "I wouldn't say worried is the right word. Just remember when he kills you that I didn't want to do this."

"He wouldn't kill me, he likes me."

Avery laughed. "Maybe, but he LOVES me."

"Should we put it off?"

"Backing out now?"

Nick worried his lip. "No. I think he needs to know. I think the department needs to know."

Avery sighed. "But then one of us is going to have to move to swing or days and I don't want to do that."

"We already agreed I would move to swing. We'll still get to see each other."

"Yeah for two seconds as we pass in the hallway or on the off chance that we're actually both off at the same time."

Nick frowned slightly at her. "Then we'll just tell Grissom and not Ecklie."

Avery moistened her lips. "Grissom will have to tell Ecklie."

"As you said he loves you. He won't hurt you."

She didn't answer him as she kissed his bare chest again. There was always a chance that he wouldn't tell Ecklie. Hell. He had been seeing Sara for over two years and no one in the department other than her knew about that.

"Why do you want to tell him?"

Nick sighed. "I have a lot of respect for Grissom, Avery. I don't like doing this behind his back. It's been almost a year, it's time he knew."

"Wait a little longer please. For me?"

Nick rolled so that he was on top of Avery. He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers, pulling her tight against him. "You're lucky I love you." He continued to kiss down her neck and stomach stopping between her legs. "Really love you."

Avery arched her back as Nick kissed her thighs, his tongue coming out to taste her.

Genevieve turned the television up as she heard the first of Avery's moans. Avery had a tendency to be loud and once her and Nick got started it was usually a while before they stopped.

She frowned as she heard a soft rapping at the door. She glanced at the clock on the wall before getting up and looking through the peephole. She cursed under her breath as she saw Grissom and backed away from the door, heading to the first bedroom in the hallway.

"Avery," Vi called out as she knocked on the door. She waited a moment, listening to Avery keep moaning before she rolled her eyes and opened the door. "Avery! Your father is here."

Avery quickly covered her body, looking at her roommate. "What? Why is Grissom here?"

"I'm going to go and let him in. Just wanted to give you and boy toy here a warning." Vi let her eyes glance at Nick's body. She winked at Avery before closing the door and heading to the front door. She opened it and stood back, gesturing for Grissom to come in. "Sorry, it took me a minute to get the door. I was in the bathroom."

Grissom walked into the house. "Where's Avery?"

"Right here," Avery said as she closed her bedroom door, tightening her bathrobe around her waist. "What's going on?"

"Are you still taking a personal day today?"

"I just got off a triple. Yes, I am taking a personal day to get some rest."

"Can you watch Hank?"

Avery raised her eyebrows. "You came all the way out here to ask me to watch Hank? You could have called."

"I tried. Voicemail."

Avery pursed her lips. She knew her phone was turned off because she had been planning on sleeping. "Sorry, phone is off. You're going in early, why?"

Grissom pulled his phone out and glanced at the screen. "Ecklie needs us. Day shift is backlogged. I've been trying to call Nick in but he's not answering the phone."

Avery pushed her brown hair behind her ear. "Yes, I'll watch Hank. Do you need me to come in and help?"

Grissom closed his phone again and frowned slightly as he saw a male's shirt hanging on the side of the armchair. "No, not unless you want to. We could use the help, but you resting is also important. I have to go. If you hear from Nick tell him to get to the lab won't you?"

"Sure, but I doubt that I'm going to hear from him if you haven't."

"Right. See you around."

Avery frowned as Grissom left the house. "Is he acting stranger than normal?"

"He's always strange," Vi said as she dropped back onto the couch, covering up with her blanket. "You going to go into work?"

"I don't know," Avery answered looking behind her as Nick came out of the bedroom in just his jeans. "You need to stop turning your phone off when you're with me."

Nick kissed her quickly as he grabbed his shirt. "Wouldn't be an issue if you would just let me tell him already. Are you going to come into work?"

Avery shook her head. "I'm going to try and sleep. Grissom knows he can call me if he really needs me."

Nick kissed her again. "See you in the morning?"

"Yeah," Avery said watching as he left the house. She sighed as she dropped down into the armchair and glanced at Vi. "Did you have to come into the room?"

Vi smiled at her. "You never told me Nick was packing."

Avery rolled her eyes. "I'm going to head to Grissom's and watch Hank," she got up and started to her room. "Be careful at work tonight."

"You too."

"Not going to work."

"Yes, you will," Vi answered her as her bedroom door shut. "You always do."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters of Avery and Genevieve. The storyline doesn't coincide with the show completely.**

Avery sighed as she tossed the blanket off of her and sat up on Grissom's couch. She looked at Hank sleeping on her feet before pulling them out from under him and sitting on the edge of the couch. She really wanted to sleep, she was exhausted. Her mind wouldn't stop wondering and she couldn't seem to get it to turn off.

"Wanna go to the sitter, Hank?"

The dog barked at her before he jumped off of the couch and ran to the door.

"Alright, alright," she said laughing. "Let me get dressed."

She flipped on the light and turned off the coral reef documentary before getting up and ready to head into work.

Avery walked around the corner of the lab and stopped short as she heard Ecklie call her name. She turned to look at him, raising her eyebrows slightly. "Yes, Conrad?"

"Can we talk in my office?"

Avery let out a breath before she followed the man into the office, shutting the door behind her. "Have I done something wrong?"

"Didn't you just get off working a triple?"

"Yes."

"Are you okay to work tonight?"

"I'm fine, Conrad. Is that all you called me in here for?"

"No, have a seat."

Avery followed his instructions and sat in the chair in front of his desk, crossing her leg over her knee. "What's going on?"

Ecklie sat behind his desk and looked at her. "Grissom is getting older and starting to consider retirement."

"Grissom won't retire for a while."

"It might be a few years, but he's been thinking about it and it has me thinking about his replacement in the department."

Avery shifted slightly. "Catherine is the obvious choice. She's been here the longest and she plays by the book. She'd be a fantastic supervisor."

"I don't want Catherine."

Avery shrugged. "Nick would be next down the line."

"I don't want Nick."

"What are you looking for, Conrad? Catherine and Nick both have the most seniority."

"I'm not looking for seniority. Catherine and Nick have a tendency to use their hearts too much rather than their brain. You've always put science first and emotions second."

Avery frowned. "Wait…are you saying you want me to replace Grissom as Grave supervisor? I'm the youngest on the team and the least experienced."

"I need someone who isn't going to put emotions first, Avery. Your case record is impeccable. Who else would I be looking for as a supervisor?"

"This isn't even my field, Conrad. I'm a marine biologist."

"You have a degree in marine biology, animal science, and criminology. You've never left this lab. You've been here for three years. You have the credentials to run this place."

"But it isn't what I want. I'm not looking to stay here forever. I joined to help Grissom when the team was understaffed and things just keep going on."

"And things are always going to go on here." Ecklie leaned forward on the desk. "This isn't something you need to have an answer for today or tomorrow. I just want you to know that as far as I'm concerned I'm grooming you to be the next grave supervisor. You can go back to work."

Avery nodded her head as she got up and left the office not saying another word to the undersheriff. She walked into the shower room; it was common for her to take a shower before she started her shift. She undressed before she stepped under the stream of hot water. She held her head under the water, wetting her hair, before she jumped as a pair of arms wrapped around her from behind.

"Shh, baby," Nick whispered against her neck.

"You are most definitely going to get us caught," Avery commented as she turned to face him.

"We're not going to get caught. Everyone's out except for the lab techs and they have no reason to come in here," Nick answered as he kissed her deeply. "I wasn't done with you earlier."

Avery laughed as he pushed her against the wall of the shower. "I wasn't done with you either."

Nick kissed down her neck, growling low in his throat as she moaned loudly and tangled a hand in his hair. He moved his hand down her body grabbing her ass in his hands and lifting her up, she legs wrapped around him as he easily pushed inside of her.

"Fuck, baby," Avery groaned into his ear as he started to thrust inside of her. "Don't slip," she joked as she bit down on his ear.

"Don't ruin the moment by breaking my concentration," Nick countered as he pulled out before thrusting hard against her again.

Avery leaned her head back against the wall and just concentrated on the way that Nick was making her feel in that moment. Concentrated on him moving inside of her and the rising orgasm that she knew was coming. She blocked Ecklie and everything he said about her being the next grave supervisor. He wasn't important. This was important. Nick was important.

"I love you," Avery told him as she felt the wave start to hit her. "I love you so much."

"I love you too," Nick groaned out before burying his face in her neck as he lost himself to the pleasure that overtook his body.

Avery pulled his head up and kissed him as hard as she could, letting him take away all her doubts. "You're my everything."

Nick pulled back slightly and looked at her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm good," she answered him as her feet touched the floor as Nick let her down. "Very very good."

Nick chuckled. "Well, can't say I don't leave you satisfied."

"That's never been a complaint."

"Turn around and let me wash you."

Avery smiled at him as she did what he said, leaning her body back against his own.

Avery finished tying her hair up before kissing Nick again. "I love you. I'm sure Grissom is back with some assignments now."

"Yeah," Nick commented as he sat down to tie his shoes. "You go first. I'll meet you in the break room. Can't let people see us leaving together."

"Okay, but I know you're only letting me go first because you like to watch me walk away."

"Always."

Avery laughed as she left the locker room, stopping abruptly as she saw Sara leaning against the opposite wall with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Sara."

Sara pushed herself away from the wall and stopped in front of Avery. "So, I've been digging through trash for the last three hours and I get here to take a shower just to open the door and hear the last of your little show. Decided to wait here and see who it was though I have to admit I wasn't expecting you. What are you thinking? Having sex in the workplace, Avery?"

"I can exp…" Avery snapped her mouth shut as Nick opened the door behind her.

Sara's eyes widened. "Well, this just keeps getting better. Are you kidding me? You two?" She pushed them into the room and shut the door behind them. "Avery, your father is going to kill you and Nick, you're going to lose your job. He's then going to find a very hidden spot to bury both of your bodies. What were you thinking, Nick? Out of every woman in the world you had to go after Avery? There is no one that man loves more than this kid."  
"Sara," Avery began, "This isn't a fling. It's not just sex. We've been together a year. We love each other. And no we shouldn't have done this here, we both know that."

"Why didn't you two tell someone?"

Avery gave Sara a knowing look. "Because not everyone here needs to know about it."

Sara shook her head. "Don't have sex here anymore."

"First and last time promise."

Sara turned a stern look to Nick. "We will discuss this more but I have to get this stench off of me and Grissom is waiting for the two of you to go to a crime scene. Triple homicide. Put a cap on so people can't tell your hair is wet."

Avery watched Nick as he left the shower room before she looked at Sara again. "Are you going to tell him?"

"No, you're going to." Sara answered her. "I know you know about Grissom and me and I'm not telling you to tell the whole lab, but as your supervisor; he needs to know." Sara hugged Avery. "I love you and I love your father. I understand wanting to keep it a secret and why but he needs to know. Now go, he really is waiting on you two."

"Where did he think we were? How did he know I was here?"

"We just assumed Nick hadn't gotten here yet and Ecklie told him you were here."

"Of course," Avery said wrinkling her nose. "I smell like trash."

"I suppose that is worse than smelling like sex."

Avery sniffed herself. "Do I smell like sex?"

"No, you're good. Go."

Avery hugged her again as she left the shower room, jogging to catch up with Nick and Grissom.

* * *

Avery stepped into the house and immediately covered her nose. "Uh, iron."

"Breathe through your mouth," Grissom said behind her looking at the two bodies in the living room.

"I know."

Grissom turned his gaze to her. "Thank you for coming in tonight. Take the master bedroom upstairs, one body. Nick and I will cover the living room."

Avery nodded her agreement as she took the stairs to the master. She looked at the naked woman on the bed before she put her case on the ground and grabbed her camera, snapping a few photos of the body. She stopped as she heard a rustling coming from the closet. She put the camera on the dresser before she walked over to the closet, her hand on the butt of her gun.

"Throw the gun on the bed," a male voice commanded behind her.

Avery stiffened as she felt a cold barrel press to the back of her neck. She let out a breath and took her gun out of the holster, tossing it onto the bed.

"Are you a cop?"

Avery shook her head. "I'm a criminologist."

"What is that?"

"I examine the evidence at a crime scene. That's all."

"And find the killer?"

"It's not that simple," Avery answered as she tried to swallow down her fear.

"Maybe not, but what is simple is the fact that you're going to help me get out of here. How many more of you are there?"

"Two in the house. Cops on the front lawn."

"Where in the house?"

"Living room."

"Blocking the exit."

"Keep me in front of you. They won't shoot."

"And what about the cops outside? No, you're coming with me until I'm in the clear."

Avery looked at the woman on the bed. "Did you do this?"

"That's information you don't need to know. Walk." The man pushed her toward the stairs.

Avery started down the stairs walking slowly as she could still feel the gun pressed against her neck. She got to the bottom of the stairs and stopped as Nick looked at her.

"Avery?"

The man stepped down behind her, keeping the gun tight against her head.

"We're just going to go to the door," Avery said switching her gaze to Grissom's.

"Don't try anything funny or else this one will die."

"We're not moving," Grissom answered honestly.

Avery closed her eyes as the man nudged her to the door. They both turn and look as the door is opened and Greg is standing there looking at the scene in front of him. Avery took the second the man was distracted and grabbed his arm. The man pulled his arm free and hit her with the butt of his gun, making her fall to the ground. Her body jerked as she heard two rapid shots and a sudden overwhelming pain overcame her body.

"Avery!" Grissom called out as he moved to her body, placing his hand over the bleeding wound. Call an ambulance. Nick! Now!"

Nick looked at Greg who was still standing with his gun outstretched before he looked at the body on the ground behind Grissom. He pulled his phone out and dialed a number kneeling beside Grissom and Avery.

"This is CSI Stokes. I need a bus to 728 West Hilcroft Street. I have an unconscious 27 year old female with a gunshot wound to her left shoulder." He looked at the dead man. "One dead."

"I just reacted," Greg said from the door.

"You did good," Grissom answered him. "Damn, this bleeding won't stop. Nick, find Brass and find out how the hell his guys missed the subject in the house."

Nick watched Avery for a moment before he moved away from her to do what Grissom said.

* * *

"How are you feeling?"

Avery winced as she moved to try and put on her shoes. "Like I was shot."

"I'll get it," Nick said as he kneeled down to help her put on her shoes. "You're lucky you're being discharged already."

"Already? It's been hours. What is it, 3-4 pm?"

"Somewhere around there. Thankfully it was a through and through bullet."

"Not sure lucky is the right word." Avery looked down at him as he rested his forehead against her knee, her hand instinctively going to his hair. "Are you okay?"

Nick stood up and moved between her legs resting his forehead against her own. "I've never been so scared in my life."

"Not even when you were buried alive? Because that was my scariest time." Avery had been terrified for Nick even though they hadn't been dating at the time. She thought she was going to lose him that night.

"Not even. I heard the shot and I thought that I had lost you."

"I'm okay."

"Yeah because Greg reacted fast enough to shoot the bastard."

Avery rubbed his cheek before she leaned up and kissed him. Nick moaned and leaned into the kiss, pressing his body harder against hers. He jerked back quickly as there was a sharp rap at the door.

"I just wanted to see if Avery was okay, but as I can tell she's doing just fine," Greg commented as he walked into the room. "How long has that been going on?"

"A while."

"I'm guessing Grissom doesn't know because if he did, you'd be dead."

"No one knows," Nick confirms.

"I can keep a secret. Though I'd keep the kissing in private if possible." He turned to look at Avery. "Glad you're doing okay."

"Thank you for shooting him."

"Grissom would like to see you back at the office before you head home," Greg told her. "If you're up for it."

Avery jumped off of the hospital bed and adjusted the sling her arm was in. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"I'll drive you guys," Greg said with a smile. "But no making out in my car."

Nick chuckled as he ruffled Greg's hair.

* * *

Avery walked into Grissom's office and smiled at him. "What's up?"

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine. It was minor."

Grissom nodded his head. "I want you to take a few days paid off. While you're off I need your report of what happened."

"I don't need time off."

"You need to heal."

Avery pursed her lips. "I'm fine, Grissom."

"You're not fine. You just got shot. I'm not asking, Avery."

"You're going to make me take time off?"

"You need it."

"Okay," Avery agreed knowing she was overtired and needed a bit of a break.

Grissom looked up to see Sara walking towards the office. "Are you up for dinner?"

"Dinner?"

"Me, you, Sara?" He asked as he started walking towards her.

Avery smiled at him. "Of course. I'm always up for having dinner with my two favorite people." She stopped and frowned. "Do you smell that?"

Grissom looked back at her. "It smells like…" He throws his body over Avery's as there is an explosion in the office.

Avery gasped as she felt the wind knocked out of her as her and Grissom land on the floor, his body over hers. Her ears were ringing and her face was burning. She couldn't think or process what was happening.

"Gil! Avery!"

Avery felt Grissom's body being moved off of her own and she sat up and looked over to see Sara kneeling by his lifeless body. "No." She moved over to him and checked his pulse. "No, no, no." Avery immediately started CPR on him, ignoring the searing pain in her shoulder and rest of her body. "Grissom! Help! Please don't do this to me." Avery continued doing CPR as tears streamed down her face.

Nick grabbed onto her arms and pulled her back as medical personal started to work on Grissom. Avery fought against his hold as she watched the EMTs. She couldn't think as she thought about losing him. Thought about losing the person she needed most.

"Dad!"


	3. Chapter 3

_Avery looked at the body lying on the ground beside her. It was completely lifeless. She didn't reach out to touch it or try and see if maybe her mother was still alive. She hurt. She hurt and it was her mother's fault. She felt a pair of hands grab her arms and gently pulled her away from the body. The middle aged man knelt in front of her and forced her to look at him._

 _"What's your name?"_

 _"Avery."_

 _"That's a pretty name. I'm Gil. How old are you?"_

 _Avery frowned. She could feel the man looking at the assorted cuts and bruises on her body. "Nine."_

 _"Is that your mother?"_

 _"Yes."_

 _"Do you know what happened?"_

 _Avery shook her head. "I wasn't here."_

 _"Can you tell me what happened to you?"_

 _Avery gave him a solemn look. "My mother took drugs. A lot of drugs. She ran out of money. That's why we're homeless. She ran out of more money and needed more drugs. She…she exchanged me for drugs."_

 _Grissom's face hardened as he looked at the little girl in front of him. "Okay, we'll we're going to get you to the hospital and make sure you are taken care of."_

 _A woman's hand tried to grab her and she rushed forward and wrapped her arms around Grissom._

 _"I'll ride with you," Grissom assured her._

 _The next few days were a blur. She was seen by multiple doctors and had multiple tests ran on her. Grissom was there the whole time. He brought her food and he slept there with her. He only left her side for a couple of hours a days, but he always came back._

 _It didn't last long. When she was released from the hospital she was handed over to social services. It wasn't until six months later that she saw him again. He was sitting outside of the courtroom and he smiled at her and waved as she was ushered inside._

 _She remembered the judge asking if there was anyone to take custody of Avery and the social worker explaining there wasn't. No one willing to take custody meant back into foster care. She thought often of Genevieve who had helped to take care of her on_

 _the street while her mother was high on drugs._

 _"So no one claims custody of this child, Avery Hamilty?"_

 _"I would like to take custody of her and possibly adopt her in the future."_

 _Avery turned to look at who had spoken and ran to Grissom, wrapping her arms tightly around him._

 _"I'm sorry who are you?"_

 _Grissom stood and looked at the judge. "My name is Gilbert Grissom. I have a PH.D in Biology and I run the Grave Shift for Criminiology at LVPD."_

 _"But what qualifications do you have for raising a child?"_

 _"Truthfully none. But I care about her and she cares for me. That should be enough to at least outweigh her going into foster care."_

 _"It just may be, Mr. Grissom, but if this is granted then it will be under a temporary basis with visits from a social worker to determine if both of you are happy with the decision to make you a foster parent."_

 _"We can do that."_

 _Grissom smiled down at Avery who just clutched harder to him_.

Avery jerked awake and sat up in bed before looking beside her at Nick. He was watching her with hooded eyes. She winced as her wounds were still very raw. "How long have you been awake?"

"Not too long. Bad dream?"

Avery shook her head. "A good one. The day Grissom found me."

Nick frowned. "Found you? You're his daughter."

Avery smiled slightly. "I'm his adopted daughter. He legally adopted me when I was eleven. My mom was a druggie. She sold me to a group of four men when I was nine. They raped me for hours while my mom got high." She shrugged. "They let me go when the time was up and my mom was dead when I found her. Then Grissom found me and it's been the two of us ever since."

"Why have you never told me any of this?"

"Because I don't talk about that part of my life. The only part of my life that matters before I met Grissom is Genevieve. Nothing else." Avery's tone meant that was all that she was going to say on the matter.

Nick leaned up on his side. Being raped at nine had to be hard on her. It was probably why she was so closed off when she invested cases and why it had taken her two years to give in to his charms. He leaned over and kissed her shoulder. "I love you."

"I love you too. I'm not ready to go back to work."

"Take more time off."

Avery shook her head as she slipped her arm into the arm sling. "I told Ecklie I would only be out a week. Grissom is going to be out for a while, so I'm needed."

"Has he woke up?"

"No. I'm going to go and see him before I head into work." Avery stretched on the bed. Her face still had the healing remnants from the explosion and she still had bruises over most of her body.

"Do you want me to go with you?"

Avery kissed Nick as she slipped out of bed and started to look for clothes. "No, I think I just want to spend some alone time with him. Get some more sleep."

"Hey, Avery?"

"Yeah, babe?"

"How long did you know Sara and Grissom were in a relationship?"

Avery looked back at him. "Since it began. I'm his daughter, he wouldn't keep it a secret from me."

"You've kept us a secret from him."

"I don't want to fight," Avery said slightly exasperated. "You know I'm not ready to talk about us with other people. Sara and I haven't even talked about us and she knows about our relationship."

"I'm not trying to fight. I just want to not hide anymore."

"You're eleven years older than me, Nick, and maybe that makes you more willing to want people to know what's going on, but I still like and want my privacy. I didn't want Greg and Sara knowing about us, but they do." Avery slipped some sandals on her feet. "Sleep. I have to go and see my dad."

Avery stopped as the doctor called her name. She turned and looked at him. "Hey, Dr. Wilson. I was just heading in to see my dad."

"Yeah, Mr. Grissom is who I wanted to talk to you about."

"Is something wrong?"

"I spoke with Ms. Sidle earlier, but yes. It appears that we're having some organ failure. We're not sure where it's stemming from but we're checking for infections from the burns."

Avery moistened her lips. "So, what are we talking about here?"

"Ms. Grissom, if we can't find the reason for the organ failure than we're not going to be able to keep him alive even with the ventilator. This might be something that you and Ms. Sidle need to have a serious talk about. We're at the point where keeping him alive might be doing him more harm than good right now." The doctor placed a hand on her shoulder. "Just think about what I said."

Avery turned away from him and walked into her father's room. She pulled the blanket back up to his chest before she sat down beside him and took his hand in her own.

"What are you doing, Grissom? You're stronger than this. You have so many people fighting for you." She kissed his hand. "I need you to wake up. I can't do this without you. Everything I am is because of you."

"Everything he is is because of you," Sara said quietly as she walked into the room. "He always said if he didn't have you, his life would be so much less stressful, but so much more boring. He needs you as much as you need him," she said as she sat on the arm of the chair that Avery was sitting in and kissed the top of her head.

"I'm not ready to give up on him, Sara."

"Then don't. Grissom is one of the strongest people I know."

Avery looked up at her. "We should get to work."

Sara nodded. "Yes, we need to." She got off of the arm of the chair and kissed Grissom's cheek. "I'll be back after work."

"You should be his power of attorney, Sara."

Sara shook her head as they walked out of the room. "No, he made the right decision in keeping it as you. You\re level headed and you put facts in front of emotions. If you decide it's time to let him go then I'll support you. I'll more than likely hate you for a while, but I will support you, because I know that you can look at this with the facts. And not just the emotions."

Avery pursed her lips as they walked to the parking garage. "I don\t want to make this decision, Sara."

"I know and hopefully we won't have to make it."

"See you at work?"

"See you there," Sara said as she hugged her almost stepdaughter.

Avery sighed as she walked into the lab at LVMPD. She had gotten an urgent message from Ecklie that they were all to meet in the break room at precisely the start of shift. She walked into the break room and gave Nick a small smile as she poured herself a cup of coffee and began to drink it black. She leaned back against the table and watched as Warrick came in followed by Catherine and Greg.

"Where's Sidle?" Ecklie asked as he entered the room.

"She might be a little late. She was with Grissom."

Ecklie looked over at Avery. "That brings up the first thing, we are currently down a grave supervisor. As of right now I'm appointing lead to Avery." He held up his hands as Catherine and Avery both started to say something. "No arguments. I've discussed it with the sheriff and he agrees with me."

Sara walked into the room and raised her eyebrows before going and standing beside Avery. "What did I miss?"

"Apparently I'm your new boss."

"Actually you're not. Sidle is now on swing. No team members can date if they're on the same shift, this has always been a rule."

"As of now, Grissom is not working and therefore there is no conflict of interest. You can't expect me to run this team if I don't even have a full team, Ecklie. I need all of them."

Ecklie looked over at her. "Fine, but only until Grissom is back. How is he by the way?"

"He's fine," Avery lied as she used her good hand to tuck her hair behind her ear.

"Alright, well, there's bodies waiting." Ecklie handed a stack of papers to Avery.

Ecklie left the conference room and the more senior members turned to face Avery. She held up her hands and shook her head.

"I knew nothing of this." She looked through the stack of papers. "Catherine and Warrick, B&E at the Luxor. Greg there's a missing hiker over by the county line. Nick, robbery at Mandalay. Sara and I will take the murders at Willston."

She watched as they all left to go to their perspective scenes. She turned to face Sara. "Meet me at the cars in five? I want to check something."

Sara nodded as she left the room. Avery sighed before she headed to Grissom's office, stepping over the police tape that was still there and broken glass. Most of it had been cleaned up, but there was still more that needed to be done.

Avery adjusted her sling on her arm and sat behind Grissom's desk, opening up the bottom drawer of the desk. In it was a single picture of her and Grissom when she was about fifteen. She closed the drawer and slipped it into her pants before she got up and went to meet Sara at the car.

"So, what are you planning on doing?"

Avery looked over at Sara as the brunette continued to drive to the crime scene. "What do you mean?"

"Gil. What are you thinking of doing about him?"

Avery bit her lip as she looked back at the road. "I don't know, Sara. I don't want to pull the plug, but what kind of daughter am I if I let him suffer needlessly. He never spoke to me about this kind of stuff. I don't know what the right answer is to do here."

Sara looked over at the woman beside her. She still had her arm in her sling from the gunshot room. There was a bruise going from her eye to her forehead, she had stitches in a cut on her cheek, her arm had more stitches from where she had been impaled with glass.

"How are you feeling, Avery? I just realized I haven't asked that at all."

"Hurting. I think I might have tried to come back too soon."

"You're not healing well?"

"I was in an explosion, Sara. Healing takes a bit. Nick's been taking care of me as best as he can and Vi has been up my butt every minute that I'm home, but I've just got a lot on me right now."

Sara nodded as she pulled up in front of the house. "I can take lead on this case if you need me to."

Avery shook her head. "No, I'm supervisor I should take lead."

Sara nodded again as they got out of the car and Avery briefly spoke to the police officer on duty.

"First impression entering the house is that one of the murders took place in the front room, blood droplets lead to the kitchen where we find the second victim," Avery knelt next to the body. "What's my TOD, Dave?"

"About an hour ago."

Avery looked at the woman on the floor. She could never understand what possessed people to kill other people. She opened her kit and frowned as she realized she couldn't do his job with the sling on her arm. She pulled it off and put it on her kit, so she didn't contaminate the scene any. Using slow and precise movements she collected what she could from underneath the woman's nails. She also collected some hair samples as well as a sample of the woman's own hair.

Avery put the equipment down and stood up, suddenly the world was dizzy and she had to lean on the counter in order to keep from falling over. She could hear Dave talking to her, but couldn't understand what he was saying. Everything was fuzzy sounding.

"Avery?" Sara grabbed Avery's face and made her look at her. "What's wrong?"

Luckily Avery was good at reading lips and could understand what Sara was saying. "I can't hear."

Sara frowned. "Why?"

Avery made a nonsensical movement with her hand. "I have trouble with my hearing due to the explosion. Sometimes I have waves of dizziness and lightheadedness."

Sara cursed under her breath. "That's the concussion. I'm going to call Nick to have him come get you and take you back to the office, since I know you well enough to know you won't go home. I'll stay here and process the scene." Sara frowned at her. "Nick doesn't know does he?"

Avery shrugged. "People worry too much."

Sara took Avery's arm and led her out into the cold air, sitting her down on the porch. "You stay here and Nick will be here soon. I'll pull Greg off of the robbery to help me here."

Avery nodded as she buried her face in her hands. According to the doctor there was a chance that she would never fully get her hearing back, which wasn't the worse

case scenario as she already knew sign language from her grandmother, but it was the concussion that had her worried. What if she got to where she could no longer work at this job or Mandalay.

She looked up as she felt a hand on her arm and allowed Nick to pull her to her feet.

"Home or the office?"

Avery looked at him for a few minutes. "Take me home, Nick."


	4. Chapter 4

Avery pursed her lips as Nick pulled up in front of her house. She turned to face him and turned on the cabin light as he shut the car off.

"You should go home."

Nick frowned at her. "No, I should come in with you and make sure that you're okay."

Avery paused for a long time as she just watched Nick. Finally she let out a sigh. "I love you so much." She leaned over the console and kissed him, wrapping a hand around the back of his neck to pull him closer to her as her tongue delved between his lips. She finally pulled back and laid her forehead against his own. "We have to stop this."

"What? Why?"

Avery kept watching his lips as she was still having trouble hearing. "I'm your supervisor now. I know that Grissom and Sara continued a relationship for a long time while he was her supervisor, but that's one thing I don't want to follow in his path on. The only reason that I still have Sara on grave is because Grissom is in the hospital. If I'm going to do this job right, then I need to have my whole team. Sara and Greg know about us, it's only a matter of time that other people will find out as well if we keep doing this."

"I'm not going to allow you to break up with me over this promotion, Ave."

"I'm not asking permission here, Nick. Right now I need to have my head in the game and that's not going to happen as long as I'm with you." She kissed him again. "I will always love you."

Avery didn't give him a chance to answer as she climbed out of the car and went into her house, locking the door behind her. She slid to the floor and buried her face in her knees to hide her sobs. She didn't look up until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at Genevieve kneeling in front of her.

"Are you okay? I was calling your name and you weren't answering."

Avery sighed. "I'm having trouble with my hearing. It's apparently common after being in an explosion."

"How long? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew you would worry."

Vi looked at her friend for a long time. "I will always worry about you. I've worried about you since you were nine and stole that apple from me."

"I was hungry."

"So was I," Vi said as she nudged her friend. "Why are you crying though?"

Avery sighed. "Lets see, I have to make the decision on whether to kill the person who made me who I am, I got a promotion that I didn't want, and I just told the man I love that we can't be together anymore."

Vi held out her hand and pulled Avery to her feet. "Okay we're getting drunk."

"I don't like drinking."

"I don't care. We're getting drunk."

"What about a nice scary movie and popcorn on the couch?"

Vi looked at her friend. "Okay, get your cute ass on the couch."

Avery laughed as she dropped onto the couch and covered up with the blanket. Vi came back a few minutes later with a couple of sodas and a bowl of popcorn. She went over to the entertainment center and grabbed The Conjuring off the shelf before sticking it into the DVD player and dropping down beside Avery.

Vi wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her against her body. "You know I love you."

"I know," Avery said as the movie started.

Vi frowned as she saw the headlights still shining out of the window. "Be right back, gorgeous."

Avery watched as she headed outside before she concentrated back on the movie.

Vi walked over to Nick's car and leaned her hip against it, looking back at the house. "You can't sit out here all night. There is a no trespassing sign on our gate."

"She broke up with me."

"She has a lot going on right now, Nick. The best thing that you can do is to give her some time to process everything going on. She's almost been killed twice, got promoted, is losing her hearing, it's just a lot for her. She's not good at having a lot of new stuff thrown at her at once."

Nick turned to look at Vi. "You think we'll get back together?"

Vi pursed her lips. "I think it's extremely possible as long as that man in the hospital doesn't die. If he does then all bets are off."

Avery groaned as her alarm clock cut through her sleep. She sat up in bed and ran a hand through her hair before looking at Vi still sleeping next to her.

"Where you going?" The woman asked as Avery climbed out of bed.

"Work," Avery answered her as she pulled on her bikini before covering the bottoms with a pair of shorts.

"Like that?"

"Mandalay."

"Oh."

In addition to working with Grissom as a CSI she also worked at Mandalay Bay in the aquarium, putting her marine biology degree to good use.

"You working tonight?"

"Of course," Vi answered as she stretched on the bed. "Your bed is more comfortable than mine."

"You can stay in it," Avery answered as she pulled her hair up into a ponytail.

Avery arrived at the hotel and went to the Aquarium smiling at her co-worker and boss. "Hey, Jackson."

The man held up a hand in greeting. "You okay to be working today, Ave?"

"I'm fantastic," Avery said as she took off her shorts and her sling. She grabbed her wetsuit and pulled it on before donning a tank and sticking her feet into the water. "How is Angel doing?"

"She should be having her pups any day now," Jackson answered her as he watched her drop into the tank.

Avery nodded as she put the mouthpiece in before sinking into the water. She finally spotted Angel after swimming for a while and made her way over to the shark. For the most part the shark ignored her as she swam alongside her checking out her growing stomach.

Avery jumped slightly as she was nudged on the leg. She smiled as she looked at Mary-Anne the shark she had helped raise since she was a pup. She reached down and ran her hand along the shark's body before making her way back up to the surface.

She threw her tank out of tank before grabbing Jackson's hand as he held it out to help her out of the pool.

"How is she looking?"

"Pregnant," Avery told him as she rubbed her shoulder.

"Still hurting?"

"Everything hurts." Avery stripped off her wetsuit and used a towel on her hair. "That's part of what happens when you're exploded."

Jackson nodded his head. "I can only imagine."

Avery groaned as her pager started to beep. "I'm sorry, Jackson."

The man examined her as she called back the number on the phone.

"Conrad? Yeah, of course. Yeah, I can get there in twenty. Can you not get a hold of Nick, he's first up. Alright, I'll be there."

Jackson looked up at her over the food that he was mixing for the animals. "Do you need some time off, Avery?"

"No."

"Avery, you've been barely showing up. I had to hire another marine biologist. At this rate I can't keep both of you on the payroll."

"Are you firing me?"

Jackson shook his head. "No, just try and get your head back in the game, Avery."

"I will," Avery said as she pulled her shorts back on and headed back to her car.

Avery fixed her sling as she drove to the crime scene. She took a deep breath before she got out of the car and headed to Ecklie.

"What do we have?"

Ecklie looked down at her body. "What are you wearing?"

"I do have a day job, Conrad. What do we have?"

Ecklie led her to a body that was in a ditch barely covered with a sheet. Dave looked away from the body and looked at her before looking back at her with shock.

"Don't ask. What's time of death?" Avery asked as she looked at the woman on the ground.

"About eight hours ago."

Avery looked at her watch. "2am."

"Sorry I'm late."

Avery looked behind her as Nick walked up to them. "If you're first up then you need to make sure your phone is on at all times and that you're in a position to answer it."

Nick looked at her for a moment. "I was in the shower."

"For over two hours. Impressive shower length, Stokes." Avery pushed up from the ground and used Nick's shoulder to help herself out of the ditch. "Time of death was about 2am." She stopped as she got a smell off of him. "Come here."

Nick exchanged looks with Ecklie before he followed Avery out of the ditch and over to his car. "What?"

Avery crossed her arms over her stomach. "Have you been drinking, Nick? Why would you do that knowing you're first up on call?"

"Maybe because I was depressed over my girlfriend breaking up with me out of the blue."

Avery sighed. "You know I love you, Nick, you know that, but right now we can't be together. Maybe when Grissom is better and he's back to work then maybe things will be different. Right now you need to go home and sober up."

"I'm not drunk, Avery."

Avery frowned at him. "Okay, I'll stay here and help with the crime scene because I can't leave you alone and risk you messing up the scene."

"Do you even know me anymore? I don't mess up scenes."

"You're also not usually drunk."

"I'm not drunk."

Avery shrugged. "Do you have an extra shirt in your car by chance? My only change of clothes are back at the office."

"In the car," Nick told her as he tossed her his keys and headed back to the body.

Avery watched him leave, her eyes taking in his body that she was already missing after just a day. She finally turned and went to his car to get a shirt and cover herself before meeting Nick back at the body.

WEEK LATER:

Sara walked into the hospital room to see Avery sitting beside Grissom's bed, her feet propped on the nightstand and a stack of papers in her lap.

"What is all of that?"

"Do you know how much paperwork, Grissom does on a daily basis?" Avery asked as she turned to look at Sara. "I am so far behind, I can't keep up. He really needs to wake up and come back to doing his job because I'm not sure I can handle it much longer. I can't even work active scenes anymore because I'm so busy with paperwork. I take paperwork home every night and there is still another pile waiting for me when I get home. Plus half of the time you guys don't turn in your reports and I have to hunt you down. It's exhausting. I'm exhausted."

"I know," Sara told her as she took the other seat in the room. "We can all see how it's wearing on you."

"I'm not cut out to be a supervisor."

Sara looked at Grissom before she looked back at Avery. "You're meant to be a marine biologist. It's what you've always wanted. Maybe when Gil wakes up, you can go back to that."

Avery shrugged. "Maybe. It's not like I'm in a relationship anymore."

"Whatever happened with that?"

"I told him when things were different maybe we can go back to what we were, but until then this is how it has to be."

"I'm sure Nick isn't taking that well."

"Nick is being Nick, but I can't be his supervisor and his girlfriend right now. Not that there was anything wrong with what you and Grissom were doing. I just can't."

"I really hope you're not talking about Nick Stokes."

Avery sat up straight her papers falling off her lap as she heard Grissom speak for the first time in two weeks. "Grissom?"

His eyes slowly opened as he looked at Avery. "Stokes? Really?"

"Dad!" Avery yelled as she hugged him before moving back so Sara could embrace him. "How long have you been awake?"

"I heard the flipping of paperwork and was doing my best to ignore it and then I heard a very interesting conversation. Nick Stokes?"

"And I'm going to go and get a doctor," Avery told them as she snuck out of the room as fast as she could.


	5. Chapter 5

Avery put her hand over her mouth as she tried not to breath in the stench of the vomit that had been baking in the sun all day. She glanced back at Warrick as she put some of it in a bag before she stood and let out a sigh.

"I'm going to go and get some fresh air real quick." She handed the bag to Warrick to put with the rest of the evidence as she walked outside and leaned against the building.

"What do we have?" Catherine asked as she, Greg, and Nick walked up to the building.

Nick's eyes locked on Avery. She was looking more tired than she had even just yesterday. Her hair was thrown up haphazardly in a messy bun with strands falling into her face. The dark bags under her eyes were beginning to become a part of her regular wardrobe. She was dressed in a black tank top and black pants with her shirt barely showing the belly button ring that she had for ages.

"Four dead inside. Looks to be a murder-suicide, two kids, two adults, one kid missing."

"So you decide to take a break with a missing kid?"

Avery looked at Catherine and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm sorry, but the last time I checked I was working twenty hour days, go to the hospital to spend an hour with my father, and then go home to sleep for three hours before starting the whole thing over again. So, please, tell me how my five minutes of breathing in air and sunlight is really impeding the finding of the kid." Avery glanced at Greg before she looked back at Catherine. "You have done nothing but bitch and complain since I took this position over. I'm working my ass off and I'm tired of apologizing for it."

"Yeah well, some people actually deserved the position and didn't get there due to nepotism."'

"Okay now, that's enough," Nick began from behind Catherine.

"No, it isn't enough," Avery said as Warrick walked out of the house behind her. "Do you really think I don't hear the team of you whispering in the break room or the conference room? Talking about how I'm too young and inexperienced for this. How I only got this position because of Grissom. I'm not stupid and I'm done pretending that I'm deaf. Grissom should be back within a week and then everything can go back to normal. Now if you'll excuse me I've got to go back and process this crime scene and then spend the night doing paperwork again."

Nick watched as Avery turned around and went back inside of the house. He looked at Catherine and cocked his head. "Really, Cath?"

"I just said what everyone was thinking," Catherine answered as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Come on, none of you guys think she should have this position either."

"Regardless of whether we think that she should be in that position, the bottom line is that she is in that position and currently our boss. I've almost always sided with you, Cath, but you were out of line here. Way out of line," he finished as he walked into the house behind Warrick.

Avery sighed as she leaned her head back in the seat of the car. They had finally found the missing child, but unfortunately it wasn't the result that any of them were hoping to get. She turned her head as the car door opened and she watched Nick slide into the passenger seat.

"Are you sure you still want to do this? It has been a long day."

Nick looked at Avery and nodded. "We made these plans so we have to uphold them."

Avery let out a breath as she put her seat belt on and drove to Desert Pines High School. As soon as she put the car in park she sighed and leaned her head against the steering wheel.

"I can do this by myself, Ave."

"No, I'm fine," Avery told him as she sat back up again. "My shoulder is just aching."

Nick frowned as he looked at her shoulder. He could see the scar from the bullet wound, but the external injuries were healed, now she was just trying to heal the internal side of it.

"Have you been having a lot of problems with it?"

Avery shook her head. "No, mostly just when I'm in the field. It seems to be tightening up at times."

"How is it when you're at Mandalay?"

Avery turned her head to look completely at Nick. "I don't work at Mandalay anymore, Nick. I quit when the supervisor position began to take up all of my time."

"But those sharks are your life."

Avery shrugged her shoulders. "Guess I need to find a new life. Come on it's almost two."

LVMPD criminology had been asked to speak at a career conference that the school was putting on for students in the Las Vegas area. As supervisor Avery had to go and Nick was the only other person who didn't have an endless caseload to work on.

"What happened wasn't your fault."

Avery stopped in her movement of opening the door and looked at him. "What wasn't my fault Nick?"

"The explosion, not finding who sent that package, that little kid. You're blaming yourself for all of it and none of it is your fault."

"Isn't it? You heard Catherine, the only reason I even have the position is due to nepotism."

Avery didn't give Nick time to respond as she got out of the car and slammed the door, going around to the back and getting her kit out of it. Nick followed her quietly grabbing his kit as well before they headed to the auditorium in the school. Avery spoke quietly to the principal before nodding and moving to the desk set up at the front of the stage. She took a breath as she looked at the 50 or so kids assembled in the auditorium. She had never been good at speaking in front of crowds. She didn't do well with high schoolers when she was in high school.

"Hey everyone," Nick said as he came to stand beside her, setting his kit on the desk. "I'm Nicholas Stokes, this is my boss Avery Grissom."

"I don't know anyone who works with the police who is as good looking as you two."

Nick chuckled as he glanced at Avery. "Well, you must have not spent much time around cops, which is a good thing. But we gotta stay away from this one she's the big bosses' daughter."

The kids laughed as Avery shared an amused glance with Nick.

One of the kids stood up and nodded to Avery. "You're going to tell me that she didn't get to where she is because of her looks? She looks like she can't tell up from down. She couldn't even form a sentence when you guys started."

Avery frowned as some of the kids laughed.

"Besides, it's easy to have good jobs when you come from good families."

Nick went to say something and Avery held up a hand.

"Good familes?" Avery asked. "Just so you know I lived on the streets from seven to nine years old, why? Because my mom got behind on bills because all she wanted to do was buy drugs and get high. At nine my "mother" died and I got sent to family services. I was in the system luckily for only six months before I found a foster home that adopted me. So, I'll agree with you there that I ended up with a good family but I sure wasn't born into one."

"But you got adopted and had someone to pay for your college and your road was paved for you."

Avery glanced at Nick. "What's your name, son?"

"Tyler."

Avery went and sat on the edge of the stage. "My road was never paved for me. When Grissom adopted me I had never been to school. I had behavior issues because I never had a normal home with a normal parent. Grissom was patient with me, his mother who watched me when he worked...not so much. She didn't understand why my father adopted me and told me that I was a burden to him and going to cause him a lot of grief. She's warmed up to me now, but it took years."

She shifted slightly as her shoulder was aching. "I had never gone to school, at nine, I should have been in fifth grade, I tested below a kindergarteners level. Because of that Grissom didn't put me in school for a year and a half. He hired tutors and we literally studied some days from nine am to nine pm. Sometimes longer, sometimes shorter. It was hard and there was a lot of fighting and tears. But because of the effort he put into me, at eleven, I tested in at a tenth grade level. I started ninth grade high school at eleven, in my junior year of high school, thirteen, I started college while being in high school still. Dual major in biology and criminology. At seventeen I graduated college with two degrees. Immediately started back into school for my Ph.D in biology. This time I lived at the college, I worked to pay for my Ph.D and when I was twenty four I got it. I've worked with the LVPD since I was twenty two. I've worked my butt off to get to where I am. I've spent 16 to 17 hour days studying because Grissom expected great things from me and he was going to get them, because he's the one who gave me a life. I may have a pretty face, but there is so much more to me than just that. You can do anything that you set your mind to, Tyler. You just have to put the work and effort into it."

Avery got up and headed back to her kit before she turned and looked at the boy again. "You can do great things if you try and set your mind…"

Her words were cut off as a gunshot rang out through the room and the boy fell to the ground.

"Avery," Nick yelled out as he pulled her to the ground as another gunshot rang out.

Avery felt his weight settle on top of her as she stared at the floor in shock. She was pulled up just as quickly and tossed behind the desk.

"Do you have your gun?" Nick asked as he glanced at the teacher behind the desk with them.

"In my kit," Avery told him as she reached her hand up and pulled the metal kit down to the floor. She grabbed the gun off of the top before handing it to Nick. "Who's shooting?"

"Looks to be a kid," Nick answered her as he looked over the desk. He took aim at the shooter and fired a shot, the bullet grazed the shooter's shoulder before he ran out of the auditorium.

Nick stood up to follow him, but Avery grabbed his arm.

"Where are you going? You can't go."

"I can't let him kill more people," Nick told her before he kissed her deeply. "Take care of the wounded and get them out of here. I love you."

Avery opened her mouth before closing it again as Nick ran off. Avery pulled her phone out of her pocket before calling Brass and reporting the shooting. She looked at the teacher and nodded her head.

"Do you know basic medical first aid?"

The teacher nodded and the two of them went off to help the wounded students.

Nick shut the door to Avery's house behind him and engaged the lock before he turned and locked eyes with Avery. He knew that she wasn't happy with him. He had been unable to catch the shooter, but the cops ended up getting him luckily before anyone else was hurt.

"What?"

Avery furrowed her eyebrows as she came at him and pushed him into the door. "Are you stupid? What were you thinking chasing after a guy with a gun? You could have been shot, Nicholas!"

"I'm fine, Ave, just a little scratch."

Avery hit him in the chest as she felt hot tears running down her cheeks. "Why would you do that, Nick? Why would you run after someone like that? What if you had died? What would I do without you?"

Nick grabbed her arms and pressed his lips to her forehead as he pulled her down to the ground with him, holding her against his chest. He waited for her to calm down before he kissed her forehead again.

"I was fine, Avery. I wasn't going to die and I wasn't going to leave you."

"You don't know what could have happened." Avery leaned up as she looked at him. "I've never froze up like that before, Nick. I've never not been able to do my job."

Nick moved some hair out of her face. "You've gone through a lot the last couple of months with the explosion and getting shot and now this shooting today. It's natural that you would have some PTSD from everything that is going on."

"PTSD, is that what all the cool kids are calling it nowadays?"

Nick chuckled as he traced her cheek. "Sure, if it makes you feel better." He frowned as he looked at the clock. I should be going, it's pretty late."

Avery looked at the clock as well, 10pm. It had taken a long time at the school with all of the clean up and then going and showering at the lab. Luckily Ecklie had given both of them the night off.

Nick watched as she stood before she held out a hand to him. He took it and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. He frowned slightly as she started to pull him to the back of the house. "Where are we going?"

Avery turned to look at him and let go of his hand before she grabbed the bottom of her shirt and pulled it slowly over her head. Nick's eyes traced her curvy stomach from her bellybutton to the flower tattoo she had under her breasts, up to her luscious breasts before stopping at her face.

"We're going to my room for a very long time."

Nick nodded as she pulled him into her room and shut the door behind them.


	6. Chapter 6

_3 years ago:_

 _Grissom walked into the break room and leaned his hip against the doorjam._

 _"What's going on, boss?" Nick asked as he leaned back in his chair._

 _"We've been running short staffed for a while now with Greg still in field training and Catherine off for an undetermined amount of time. So, I've gotten us some help." Grissom gestured behind him and a woman came into the break room._

 _Nick sat up straight as he looked at the woman. She was breathtaking. Long dark brown hair with the lightest blue eyes that he had ever seen. She was dressed in tight fitting clothes that enunciated her curves._

 _"This is my daughter, Avery."_

 _"Woah, you have a daughter?" Warrick asked as he sat up in his chair._

 _"I think that's news to all of us." Sara cocked her head at Grissom._

 _Grissom raised his shoulders casually. "Wasn't aware we all divulged everything about our families here. Avery has a degree in Criminology as well as one in Biology with an emphasis in marine and animal science. She's also only a year away from getting her Ph.D in Biology. She's well educated, she knows the science, treat her well. Avery, this is Nick, Sara, and Warrick."_

 _He started to flip through the reports in his hand before he handed one to Avery._

 _"DB down by Mandalay. Take…." Grissom looked at the three people sitting at the table. "Take Nick with you. If you go to my office there is a vest and a kit on my desk. If you need help ask Nick or I'm just a phone call away."_

 _Avery nodded as she looked at the report before smiling at Nick as they started to walk down to Grissom's office._

 _"Have you had any field experience?"_

 _Avery shook her head. "No, I haven't, but Grissom has taught me a lot. We've gone over some files at home and I think I have the hang of what I'm supposed to do."_

 _"Without offending you, can I ask you how old you are?"_

 _Avery chuckled to herself as she slipped on the LVPD CSI vest. She was used to the question due to her age and degrees. "22."_

 _"22. And you'll have your Ph.D soon?"_

 _"I'll turn 24 a month before I get it, but yes."_

 _"Are you like a genius?"_

 _Avery picked up her kit and turned to look at Nick. She looked over his brown hair and deep chocolate eyes before she admired his muscles scattered along his body._

 _"No," she answered finally. "I'm not a genius. I have an eidetic memory."_

 _"What is that?" Nick asked as they started to the car._

 _"Have you ever heard of photographic memory?"_

 _Nick nodded. "Yeah, who hasn't."_

 _"Eidetic is pretty much the same but we can recall images exactly as we say them before. Like when I walked into the break room today, Sara was wearing a dark jean jacket with a blue blouse and her feet up on the table, which Grissom hates by the way. She had her hair pulled back into a ponytail and she was looking at Grissom like she had never seen him before." Avery turned and began to walk backwards in front of Nick. "Much the same way you were looking at me, however, hers was shock while yours was lust."_

 _Nick bristled slightly. "I wasn't lusting after you."_

 _Avery raised her eyebrows before she turned around and started to walk normally again as they got to the garage. "Okay big boy. Wonder if that big boy status applies to every part of you."_

 _Nick stopped short as he watched Avery walk through the door to the garage. He scoffed slightly to himself before he headed after her. Damn was Grissom's daughter a flirt_.

Avery leaned up on her side as she looked at Nick sleeping on the bed. She smiled to herself and kissed his chest as she got up and went into the bathroom. She leaned against the sink and closed her eyes as the events of the day played back in her mind. The little girl had been found in the woods behind the house, shot three times in the chest. She had almost cried as she saw the body on the ground.

Tyler. She had gotten through to Tyler, she could see it on his face, but then he was killed also. The shooter had been another student, one that had been constantly bullied by Tyler and his group of friends.

She stood up straight again and shook her head as she examined herself in the mirror, moving her arm in circles to figure out how her range of motion was going. The pain made her stop as she tried to rotate it above her head. She had missed quite a few physical therapy appointments between working so much and helping Grissom get better.

"Ave?"

Avery pushed away from the sink and headed back into the bedroom leaning her hip against the door as she looked at the naked, sexy man on her bed. "You called?"

"Wondering where you were," Nick said as he held out a hand for her.

Avery walked forward and took his hand laughing as he pulled her down on the bed. "Good morning."

"Is it morning?"

Avery reached over and looked at her phone before she nodded. "Yeah it's 8:30."

"How are you doing with everything going on?"

Avery kissed his chest as she leaned up on an arm beside him, the sheet just barely covering her hip. "I'll be doing so much better when Grissom gets back in a week. Then I am taking a long vacation."

"Maybe we should go somewhere together," Nick said as he traced the outline of her breast. "We could go visit my parents in Texas, or maybe Seattle."

Avery kissed him deeply. "Why would you want me to meet your parents?"

Nick kissed her again before he got out of the bed and went over to his duffel heading back to the bed. "Because you're the only person who has ever meant anything to me. I would die for you, Avery."

"Well, it's a good thing you don't have to do that isn't it?"

"Avery."

"Hmm?"

"I want you to meet my parents because I want to marry you."

Avery sat up straight as Nick said that. "You want to marry me?"

"I do," Nick turned and showed her the ring in his hand. "This isn't spur of the moment. I was going to do it before you broke up with me. I love you and even if it makes Grissom my father in law, I want to spend my life with you."

Avery laughed as he slipped the ring onto her finger. "Grissom is going to kill you."

Nick nodded as he kissed her and pulled her into his lap. "Yes, he probably will."

Avery ran her fingers through his hair as she moved so she could straddle his lap, kissing him deeply. She leaned up, not disconnecting their kiss, before moving back down, moaning as his thick length filled her.

"Fuck, Nick."

Nick growled as he kissed down her neck to her breasts, pulling her nipple into her mouth before releasing it again. He grabbed her hips roughly as he helped her move on top of him, withdrawing before impaling himself again.

Avery threw her head back as she let out a loud moan. "Was that the door?" She asks as a doorbell rings in the distance.

"I don't give a damn," Nick responded as he flipped them back onto the bed and started to thrust into her harder kissing her to quiet her loud moans.

Vi climbed out of her bed and threw on a robe, tiredly rolling her eyes at the moans she heard from the hallway as she went to the door and opened it. She stepped slightly back as she looked at Warrick standing there.

"Hey, kinda early for a CSI isn't it?"

Warrick pointed at her. "I know you from somewhere don't I?"

"You've probably seen me around the office with Avery," Vi said as she gestured to the inside of the house. "Come in," she ended with a yawn. "Do you want some juice or something?"

"Umm, yeah actually I could do with some juice."

Vi nodded as she led him into the kitchen making a slight face at another one of Avery's moans.

"So, I can hear that Avery is releasing some stress."

Vi looked behind her at Warrick as she grabbed two glasses and took the orange juice from the fridge, pouring some into glasses. "A whole lot of stress," she agreed. "Did you need her? I can go and get her it truthfully wouldn't be the first time that I've had to interrupt her festivities."

Warrick shook his head as Vi handed him a glass. "No, Avery just wanted me to bring these files by on a case that we worked on yesterday morning."

"Anything interesting?"

"Far from it," Warrick answered her, turning as he heard footsteps coming down the hall. "Good morning, boss."

Avery stopped short as she looked at Warrick before she made a face as Nick walked up beside her, Avery only in Nick's shirt and Nick in boxers.

"Nick." Warrick was in shock. Nick was sleeping with Avery.

"What are you doing here, Warrick?" Nick asked.

Warrick pointed to the file on the cabinet. "Avery asked me last night to bring that by this morning. How long has that been going on?"

Avery shifted slightly as she looked to Nick.

"A while," Nick answered honestly.

Warrick pursed his lips as he looked at them. "How long is a while?"

"A year," Nick supplied. "I actually asked Avery to marry me."

Warrick lifted his eyebrows before a smile broke out on his face and he walked up and clapped hands with Nick. "Sorry, man, but that girl is like a sister to me, so I had to make sure you weren't just screwing around on her."

"Like I would do that with who her father is," Nick said with a laugh.

Avery allowed herself to be pulled into a hug from Warrick. "Sorry we didn't tell you. We've just been keeping it between us."

"Does Grissom know?"

Avery nodded slowly. "He knows we were together but then he knows we broke up and he doesn't know we're back together. Plus he hasn't seen Nick since he found out."

Warrick chuckled. "So basically he's going to kill Nick."

"Basically," Avery agreed as she picked up the file and started to flip through the pages. "Something's not right here."

Warrick moved to look over her shoulder. "What do you mean?"

Avery pointed to a picture of a girl's room. "This window wasn't open when we first got there, why is it open now? Are these the original pictures?"

"They're copies, the originals are at the lab."

Avery kept flipping through the pictures before she closed the file and looked at them. "Something isn't adding up here. I need to get back to the lab and figure out what we're missing."

"What do you mean?'

"Things are moved or completely missing," Avery explained about the pictures. "I don't get it I was there the entire morning. None of us would have moved anything. I'm heading into work. You two get some sleep, I'll have Catherine and Sara meet me there."

Nick grabbed her arm as she went to walk past him and pulled her against him before kissing her deeply. "I love you."

"Love you too," Avery said as she gave him a chaste kiss before heading to the bedroom to get dressed.

"That was a lot more awkward than I thought it would be," Warrick said as Nick turned as well and headed to the bedroom. "I never saw that one coming."

Vi crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned against the counter. "Yeah, try living with it for a year," she said with a laugh.

Avery sat her drawing of the multiple rooms down beside the ones that were in the file. She looked over her shoulder as Catherine and Sara came into the room.

"What's going on?" Sara asked with a slight yawn. "We just got off shift you know."

"I know, I'm sorry," Avery told her as she moved a picture slightly.

"What is that?" Catherine asked as she picked up Avery's hand and looked at the ring. "Is there something that you forgot to mention to us?"

Avery pursed her lips for a moment before she looked at Sara. "Can you give us a minute?"

Sara nodded as she left the room and Avery turned to face Catherine.

"I want to talk to you about what happened yesterday."

"I know I was out of line, Avery."

"You were beyond out of line, Catherine. Whether you agree with what Ecklie and Grissom decided, the bottom line is that it was what they decided and we all have to live with it. I didn't want this. I didn't choose this as a career and I don't plan on continuing this as a career. But right now in this moment I need you to stand by my side and help me and not tear me down."

"What do you mean you're not continuing this as a career? You're so good at it."

Avery shuffled her feet as she looked at the floor. "Once my father gets back to work and everything is back to normal. I'm going to be looking for a replacement for me and I'm going to go back to Marine Biology."

"Don't leave because of what I said."

Avery smiled as she looked at Catherine. "What you said hurt. Hurt more that I can explain. You've always been in my life since I was with Grissom. You're the one who told him about the custody hearing, without you he never would have adopted me. I've always looked at you as an aunt. Nothing will change that, we're family and we fight but I love you."

Catherine hugged Avery and kissed her forehead. "I love you too, kid."

"Sara," Avery called out.

The brunette stuck her head back into the room before walking back inside. "Hug and make up? Now lets talk about this rock on your hand. I think we both missed some valuable information here."

"He asked me to marry him and I said yes."

"Who?"

Avery looked sheepishly at Catherine. "So, maybe somewhere along the way I forgot to mention that I've been seeing Nick for a year."

"Nicky? My Nicky?"

"Well, actually he's my Nicky."

"Holy. Does your father know?"

"About the engagement? No," Avery said as she pursed her lips. "But he knows we were dating before we broke up."

"Someone has some explaining to do."

"We having a slumber party in here?" Greg asked as he stuck his head into the door.

"What are you still doing here?"

"Just got back from the field. What's going on?"

"Nick asked me to marry him."

Greg looked at the ring on her finger before he pulled her into a hug. "Congrats, baby Grissom."

"Ugh, don't call me that." Avery turned to look back at the pictures running a hand over her face. "So, these pictures are off. I think Warrick took most of them, who took the rest of them."

"I did," Catherine said as she looked at the pictures as well. "I don't see off here."

Avery pointed to a picture that was taken by the camera and then one that she had drawn. "There was a book right here, notice where it's positioned in the drawing compared to where it is in the drawing."

"Who drew these?" Sara asked.

"I did," Avery answered. "I did a walkthrough of the house before you all got there. These pictures are how I remember the rooms being." She shook her head. "I need to go back to the house."

Sara shifted slightly. "You're supposed to have lunch with Gil today."

Avery sighed. "Tell him I'm sorry but duty calls. He'll understand. Do you want to come with me Catherine?"

"Yeah, of course, I always find it interesting how your mind works, baby genius."

"Not a genius," Avery called out as she started to walk out of the room.

Catherine and Sara exchanged looks as before Catherine followed her.


	7. Chapter 7

"So, did you decide to go back to marine biology so that you could be home more with the kids?"

"What?" Avery asked as she continued to look up to the roof of the house, hanging out of the bedroom window.

"The kids that you and Nicky are going to have."

Avery coughed and grabbed onto the windowsill to steady herself. "I'm not planning on having children, Catherine." She slid back into the room and frowned. "I need to look at this from outside. I walked the perimeter."

"Are you feeling okay?" Catherine asked hesitantly. "You're kind of sweaty."

"I was just sticking my head out into 120 degree heat," Avery answered ignoring her wave of dizziness.

Catherine followed Avery downstairs and outside. "You know that Nicky does want kids right? He's really big on family."

"Then we'll have to compromise somewhere," Avery said before stopping as she saw a car heading toward them. She hurriedly pulled the ring off of her finger and stuffed it into her pocket as he put her hands on her hips watching as Grissom climbed out of the car. "You're still supposed to be healing."

"Sara said you could use my help."

"No, she didn't," Avery told him as she walked forward and hugged him. "You feeling okay to be out here?"

"Are you?" Grissom asked with a frown. "You feel really hot."

"I've been leaning out of a window for fifteen minutes. I'm sweaty."

"So, what's the case?"

Avery started to lead them to the side of the house where she needed to look. "Apparent murder suicide. Two adults and three kids. One kid found in the woods separate from the other DBs."

"So why are we looking out here?"

Avery kneeled by a patch of grass and moved them around a little bit. "Because there's always evidence where you least expect it," she answered as she looked at the half of a footprint in the mud. She let out a breath as she started to get hot and nauseous. "Catherine, do you have some casting supplies?"

"Yeah, I'll go get it."

Avery let out another breath as the nausea got worse.

"Avery?"

"I'm not feeling too well, Grissom."

"Well, come here, dear," Grissom said as he held his hand out for her.

Avery took his hand before withdrawing as she started to violently throw up on the ground.

"Darling," Grissom said as he held her hair out of her face. "What's going on?"

"I don't know. I think I ruined the evidence."

"Screw the evidence."

Avery wiped her mouth and leaned against Grissom, his arm around her waist to support her. "I've been having this sharp pain in my side for most of the day. I thought it was just stress." Avery bent over as she started to throw up again, holding her side harder.

"Catherine," Grissom said as the blonde walked back over to them. "Call a bus."

"I don't need a bus," Avery said as she held a hand against her mouth.

"Avery."

Avery leaned her face against Grissom's shoulder. "This really hurts, daddy."

"Now, Catherine," Grissom said as he led Avery to the ground and sat down with her. "Breathe with me, Avery. When did you initially start hurting?"

"I mean I'd get like sharp pains for 2-3 minutes but it always went away. It's not going away now. It's getting worse. It hurts to breathe."

Grissom pressed his lips against her forehead. "You're running a fever, dear. You should have brought this up sooner."

"I've been working," Avery told him.

Grissom pulled her against his chest and started to rub the sweat ridden hair out of her face. Catherine sat down with them and grabbed Avery's hand. The three of them sat like that until the ambulance showed up.

"What do we have?" The EMT's asked as they climbed out.

"27 year old, right lower quadrant pain, fever, chills, nausea, throwing up."

"Right," the first EMT said as he started to take her blood pressure. "180/113. We need to get her loaded and get her taken to the hospital now, if we don't lower her pressure than she could stroke." He told his partner as he put the thermometer in Avery's ear. "103.4. Get an IV started and run acetominophen."

The two EMT's lifted Avery onto the stretcher and into the ambulance, one of them starting immediately on the IV.

"I'm going to go with her," Grissom said as he started to climb up.

"Are you family?"

"I'm her father," Grissom answered as he pushed past the EMT and sat beside Avery, taking her hand again. "You'll be okay, baby."

"Catherine!" Avery called out.

Catherine stuck her head in the ambulance. "What?"

"Print the side of the house, get Warrick or Greg and see if you can get to the roof, look for any indication that there was a ladder or a rope. If you see a rope look for footprints against the siding by the window." Avery stopped talking as she cried out in pain. "Someone was in that house after our initial walkthrough."

"I'll call Greg," Catherine told her as she backed away from the ambulance. "Just worry about yourself. Do you want me to call Nick for you?"

Avery looked at Grissom unsure on how to answer.

"Call him," Grissom told Catherine as Avery winced as another wave of pain hit her.

"Okay." Catherine watched as the ambulance door was shut before she called Nick.

Avery leaned her head back on the hospital bed taking a deep breath as the demerol started to work on some of her pain. She wanted to cry. She had been holding Grissom's hand and Sara had been sitting beside her since they got to the hospital, but no Nick. Catherine had text Sara and told her she hadn't been able to get a hold of him, but she was still trying. Her appendix was inflamed and on the way to rupturing and as soon as there was an empty OR, she'd be having surgery to remove it.

She shifted in the bed and laid on her side facing Grissom. "Sorry to be a pain."

"You've never been a pain," Grissom told her as he kissed her forehead. "I love you."

"Love you too, daddy." Avery held his hand harder as more pain racked across her body. "God, where is Nick? I need Nick."

"I'm here," Grissom told her.

Avery rolled her eyes. "You're not Nick. I'm marrying Nick. I need Nick go and find him."

"You and Nick are engaged? I thought you broke up."

Avery let out a breath. "We got back together. Please, Grissom, I just want Nick."

"Do you know where he is?" Grissom asked as he tightened his jaw.

"He was at my house when I came to work today."

Grissom nodded as he kissed Avery on the forehead then went out to make a call. Avery turned her head to look at Sara and slipped her ring into the older ladies' hand.

"Hold onto that for me."

Sara nodded as she put the ring in her pocket, looking to the door as it opened and a doctor walked in.

"We're going to take you up to surgery now, Ms. Grissom."

"Nick's not here," Avery told Sara squeezing her friend's hand harder.

"We'll let him know where you are," Sara assured her. "It's a minor surgery, just get your appendix out then you're back at work before you know it."

Avery nodded. "Yeah, work."

Sara kissed her forehead before she let the nurses wheel her out of the room. Grissom walked in after they left and went to stand beside Sara.

"You think she's doing okay?"

Sara watches after the doctor, biting her lip. "I think Avery has had a really rough couple of months and I think she needs a vacation once you get back to work."

"Yeah," Grissom agreed as they grabbed her bag of belongings and went to the surgery waiting area.

Nick ran into the surgery waiting area and looked around worriedly before he saw Sara and Grissom. He walked over to them and sat down opposite Grissom.

"Is she okay?"

Grissom nodded. "We haven't heard anything to the contrary yet. Was she acting sick when you last saw her?"

Nick sighed. "She said her side was hurting a little, but she seemed okay and went to work. I thought that maybe it was just something that happened during the shooting yesterday."

Grissom ran a hand over his face. "This is the first time I've seen you since finding out about Avery and you."

"I wanted to tell you."

"But you didn't. You kept this from me for over a year."

"Avery was worried about how you would react. We know how protective you are of her."

"I have reason to be."

"I'm not arguing that," Nick explained slowly. "But Avery is 27, she shouldn't have to worry that her father is going to get angry that she's dating someone."

"I'm not angry that she's dating you. I'm angry that you both felt you had to hide the fact. Avery has known about Sara and I, she knows that as long as you two can work together without it being an issue, that I don't care about team members dating. I just need to be informed."

Nick nodded his head. "I'm sorry about that. For full disclosure I asked Avery to marry me."

"She told me."

"I'm sorry I didn't, but it just happened late last night. How long has she been in surgery?"

"About an hour," Sara told him as she stood up. "I'm going to get us some waters."

Grissom watched as she left before he leaned forward to look at Nick. "You should have told me," he paused. "Has Avery told you about her past?"

Nick nodded. "She did recently. I wish that she or even you would have trusted us enough to tell us about it. I didn't even know that Avery was adopted."

Grissom raised his eyebrows. "Avery didn't want the team to know. That wasn't my call, it's her life, her past."

"Then maybe you should trust me with me if she trusted me with that information."

Grissom leaned back again as he frowned at Nick. "When have I ever given you the impression that I don't trust you? You're one of the best CSIs that I have on my team. I've watched you grow to be the man that you are today. I trust you with Avery, Nick. I'm just protective."

"What happened with Avery's mom? Overdose?"

"She was murdered."

Nick raised his eyebrows slightly. "Murdered? Did you catch who did it?"

"We did."

"And?"

"And Avery doesn't need to know this. I don't plan on ever telling her that her mother was killed. It's best if she continues to think that it was an overdose."

"But she hates her mother, she wouldn't care if she was killed. She'd probably give the killer a medal."

Grissom sighed as he looked at Nick. "I told you that I trust you. I'm giving you my blessing to take one of the most important people to me into your life. Trust me when I tell you that Avery doesn't need to know as it will only cause her more heartache."

Nick paused for a long time as he looked at Grissom. "Okay."

"Okay."

Nick knocked on Grissom's office door before he walked in as he was acknowledged. It had been three days since Avery was released from the hospital and she was out of work for at least another two weeks, leading Grissom to come back to work early.

"Nick."

"I've got the report back on those shoeprints that Catherine pulled off the side of the house."

Grissom nodded. "What's the answer?"

"Size 11, Men's combat boots. Similar to what our very own LVPD wears."

Grissom took the report from him and looked over the paper. "Why would LVPD be on the roof?"

"Cause it was an officer that wasn't supposed to be there?"

Grissom picked his phone up off of his desk as the shrill tone rang through the office. He frowned at the name before he put it to his ear. "Genevieve?" Grissom sat up straight as he listened to her on the other end. "Wait…what do you mean Avery is gone? No, don't touch anything. I'll call Brass to the house, Nick and I are on the way." Grissom slammed the phone down on his desk as he stood up and grabbed his jacket.

"Where is Avery, Grissom?"

Grissom shook his head. "I don't know, Genevieve said that she got home from work and went to check on Avery and her bedroom is a mess. The bed is trampled and there's an empty syringe by it."

"So, what are we looking at?"

Grissom climbed into the driver's seat and shrugged. "All I know is that Avery is missing."


	8. Chapter 8

Grissom pulled up in front of Avery and Vi's house and climbed out of the car, walking immediately over to Brass and Ecklie.

"Why is my team standing on the sidelines?" He asked gesturing towards Sara, Catherine, Warrick, and Greg.

"I don't feel that this is a CSI case, Gil," Ecklie began. "Avery hasn't been missing long enough to classify her as a missing person."

"Avery doesn't disappear like this. Especially not after just having surgery."

"She probably just went to the store or something."

"She did not go to the store!" Vi exclaimed from the porch. "Do you really think I would call all of you out here to my house if she had just gone to the store? Something happened to her."

Grissom held his hand up to Vi. "We're off the clock. There's no reason we can't look around and see what we see."

Ecklie rolled his eyes. "Fine, but you can't use any of the lab equipment for this since it's not a case."

"This is my daughter, Conrad."

"And we can reevaluate after the 24 hour period."

"Avery was on her pain medication when I went into work three hours ago," Nick explained walking up beside Grissom. "She was unable to stay awake, let alone be able to drive to go anywhere."

"Her car is in the garage!"

Nick glanced at Vi before looking back at Brass and Ecklie. "You going to say that she walked now?"

"Did you guys ever stop to think that maybe she used the syringe to get some better pain relief then went and slept it off with a guy? It wouldn't be the first time a roommate has reported someone missing only for them to be spending the night somewhere else."

"She's not," Nick and Grissom both said in unison.

Nick's phone started to ring and he stepped away from the arguing between Grissom and Ecklie to answer it.

"Stokes."

'Hello, Nick Stokes."

Nick frowned as he glanced at the rest of his team. "Who is this?"

'I think the better question is who do we have?'

Nick stiffened as he heard Avery let out a cry of pain. "Avery! Look what do you want?!"

'We want you to go back and reopen the case against our sister. Maybe you'll remember the name Amelia Smith. Was murdered two months ago on the strip. You ruled that the case had insignificant evidence in order to find the murderer. I would suggest that you look real hard again unless you want to be picking up pieces of your girlfriend from all around Vegas for the next year.'

Nick didn't have a chance to answer as the person on the other end hung up. Nick jammed his phone into his pocket as he strolled up to Ecklie.

"You want to tell me that wasn't real? That that wasn't Avery that just screamed in pain?! You fucking weasel." Nick turned to Grissom. "We need to pull the file on Amelia Smith. She had two brothers Herb and Anthony. They have Avery."

"Where are you going?" Grissom called as Nick got into the Yukon and backed out of the drive. Grissom turned and looked at Brass and Ecklie. "We're on this now. Jim, get all the information you can on Herb and Anthony Smith." He turned to head back to the team.

"Grissom."

Grissom stopped and looked at Sara before he turned and headed back to Vi on the porch. "We will find Avery and we will bring her home."

"What do you want me to do with her room?"

"Warrick and Catherine are going to stay here and process it. We have a suspect's name, but we need the evidence in court. As soon as they give you the okay, you can clean it up." He turned to leave again.

"Gil."

He turned back at Vi's pleading voice. "I'm going to bring her home." He left her and went over to the team, telling Warrick and Catherine to process the room while he, Greg, and Sara headed back to the lab.

Avery frowned as her eyes kept following the man pacing the floor in front of him. They had her tied to a chair in the middle of the room. She had been sleeping when she felt the hand cover her mouth and had struggled to try to reach her gun, but was unsuccessful. After a failed attempt at the gun she head butted the person with the hand over her mouth and managed to get off the bed when the second man grabbed her. She remembered hitting the dresser and the wall before a needle entered her skin and she felt exhausted.

Next thing she knew was she woke up tied to a fucking chair.

"I'm going to bleed to death if you don't fix my side."

Anthony held up a hand to stop her from talking as he looked at his brother. "Why does she keep talking?'

Avery rolled her eyes as she continued to feel the blood seep down her side from where her stitches had ripped during the kidnapping. "They're not going to help you find out who killed Amelia if I die. If you don't close my gaping surgical wound then I'm going to die."

"We can't take you to the hospital," Herb told her as he lifted her shirt and pulled the bandage aside to look at the wound.

"Do you have a needle and thread?"

"Needle and thread?"

"Just a sewing needle and regular thread. Nothing fancy."

"I don't know how to close this."

"I'll talk you through it, it's easy. If you don't have any clean gauze then just find an old clean shirt or something to lay over it once it's closed."

"Okay," Herb said as he got up and went into another room with Anthony following him.

"Do you really think we should be doing this? We kidnapped her, why not just let her die?"

Herb frowned as he dug through his late sister's boxes. "Because she's right, if we let her die then they no longer have any need to help us find who killed Amelia. Besides it's only for 24 hours then we plan on killing her anyway." He pulled out an old t-shirt and a fishing kit. "Are we doing the right thing here? Amelia wouldn't be happy with us."

"We're doing what we have to in order to make sure she's not forgotten."

"Yeah," Herb agreed as they went back into the other room. He frowned slightly as he saw Avery's eyes closed. "Are you okay?"

Avery opened her eyes and looked at him. "I'll be okay once this gets closed."

"We don't have a sewing needle, but I have a fishing hook and line."

"Even better," Avery said as she watched him pull the hook and line from the kit. "Take the hook and sterilize it with an open flame." As soon as Herb did that she continued. "Now thread it as you would if you were going fishing."

"What kind of knot is best?"

Avery blinked fast as she tried to overcome the overwhelming dizziness. "Do a simple Palomar knot." She watched as he knotted the thread then did a knot at the end. "Now for the fun part. Hook in the bottom out the top, in the top out the bottom. Keep them close and in the shape of an x. Each x counts as a stitch, there should be about seven or eight. I will probably pass out while you're closing it, so when you get to the end, knot it as close to the skin as possible and cut the line, then cover it with the clean shirt. Do you have any alcohol?"

"Alcohol?"

"Vodka, whiskey, something that has a high alcohol percentage and can be used to pour over the wound?"

"No, we're both recovering alcoholics."

Avery let out a deep breath. "That's okay, it'll be fine without it. You can start." It took everything in her not to scream as the needle pierced her skin. Every tug and pull on her skin made her want to cry out from the pain.

"Where did you learn this makeshift first aid?"

Avery's tongue darted out as she looked at Herb. "My dad. He always taught me how to get the most efficient medical care based on the circumstances. You should see what we use for bullet wounds if we're not near a hospital."

Herb chuckled as he concentrated on the wound. He looked up after he finished tying off the knot on the end to see Avery passed out. He snipped the line before he went and sat beside his brother.

"Stop giving her our life story."

"We're going to kill her anyways," Herb said with a sigh. "You know maybe Stokes was right, maybe there just wasn't enough evidence to find out who murdered Amelia."

"There was evidence. He just didn't want to look because we ain't got a lot of money and we don't run in the same social circles that they do. Are you going soft on me, Herb?"

Herb shook his head. "Of course not. I want to know what happened to Amelia also."

"Good," Anthony said as he stood up and started to unbuckle his belt.

"What are you doing?" Herb asked with a frown.

"Might as well have some fun with her. It isn't too often I get a lady that isn't bothered by my HIV status."

"You're going to get her sick on purpose?"

"She's dying anyways, so lets have fun."

Herb got up and left the room as Anthony dropped his pants and stalked towards Avery.

Herb sat on the floor beside Avery and used a wet rag to wipe off her forehead, cleaning the wound that was bleeding.

"There's no more information you know," Avery said barely above a whisper, wincing as the rag touched her swollen lip. "It was one of my first cases as supervisor. I examined everything that Nick did and he did it right. There was-is no way that anyone can catch that killer. I'm sorry but it's just impossible."

"I know," Herb said quietly as he gazed along her body at the bruises and cuts that his brother had inflicted. "Are you in a lot of pain?"

"A good amount," Avery answered honestly. "How much longer before you kill me?"

Herb sighed as he grabbed a blanket off of the back of the couch and used it to cover her up. "A couple of hours."

"Surprised they haven't found us yet."

"We're in a foreclosed house out in the middle of no where. Nothing to connect us to this place."

Avery nodded as she laid her head back onto the floor. "Just make sure they find my body please. It'll help my father and Nick put me to rest."

"They'll never find your body," Anthony said as he walked into the room and leaned against the wall. "No peace for them."

Avery looked at him before she closed her eyes as red hot pain seared through her body. "You have your sister's body."

"And they'll have your killer but no body. Only seems fair to me," Anthony said as he pulled a gun from the drawer and started pacing before her.

"Shoot me. I don't care."

"You still have two hours."

Avery rolled her eyes and dropped back onto the bed to look at the ceiling. Her mind took her back to one of her favorite memories.

 _"Hey Grissom!"_

 _Avery turned and stopped as she saw Nick jogging to catch up with her. "Don't call me Grissom. You know it's Avery. I've been here long enough for you to remember that."_

 _"Sorry, Avery." Nick ran a hand through his tousled hair. "I've got the night off. Want to grab some dinner?"_

 _Avery pursed her lips as they kept walking to the garage. "How many times have you asked me to dinner?"_

 _"Too many to count."_

 _"And how many times have I turned you down?"_

 _"Too many to count."_

 _"Then why do you keep asking?"_

 _Nick put a hand on her door before she could open it and looked at her directly. "Because you're beautiful and you have so much emotion that you hide behind that stoic face. I watch you on your cases and I know that you want everyone to think that you're unemotional and that you don't care, but I can see that's not true. You just don't want to be perceived as weak. I know who your dad is and I'm willing to risk being murdered and never found just to have the honor of having dinner with you." Nick reached over and grabbed her hand. "Also did I mention that you're beautiful?"_

 _Avery laughed as she entwined her fingers with his. "I'm going to go home and get a shower. I'm going to put on a pretty dress and I'll be standing on my porch at 8. If someone happened to be there at that time, then I might consider going to dinner with that someone."_

 _"Okay, 8 then."_

 _"Not a minute later," Avery said with a smirk as she got into her car and drove off._

 _Avery slammed the door to her house shut a moment before Nick had her pushed against it with his lips covering hers again._

 _"Don't you have a roommate?" He asked as Avery moved down to his neck, placing kisses along his jawline down to his adam's apple._

 _"She's not here." Avery reached back and locked the door before she pulled away from Nick and grabbed his hand leading him back to her bedroom._

 _"Are you sure about this?"_

 _Avery smiled as she grabbed the bottom of her dress and pulled it over her head, taking a breath as she stood before Nick in just her lace panties. "I don't think I've ever been more sure of anything."_

 _"You're so fucking beautiful," Nick said as he moved quickly and kissed her, pushing her back onto the bed._

 _Avery reached down and fumbled with the belt on his jeans before she finally got the clasp free and yanked his pants open. She slid her hand into his jeans rubbing her fingers along his hard penis as he continued to kiss her._

 _"You're going to kill me," Nick growled as he stood up and pulled his shirt over his head tossing it carelessly to the floor._

 _"Nice," Avery muttered as she abandoned her prize and ran her hands down his chest, feeling his shudder at her touch. "Very nice."_

 _Nick smirked as he kissed her again, his hand finding it's way between her legs and under her panties, his fingers rubbing against her soaked clit._

 _"You're so wet, Avery."_

 _Avery whimpered as she felt a finger enter her. "No more, Nick, just get inside of me already."_

 _"Yes, ma'am."_

 _Avery didn't know how but she swore the next second Nick had them both completely naked and was moving over her body. She opened her eyes and looked at him before gasping as he entered her slowly._

 _"Holy…" Nick cut off as he almost cursed. "You feel amazing."_

 _"Mmhm," Avery whimpered. "Please move."_

 _Nick leaned down and kissed her deeply as he started to move roughly inside of her. Avery could barely breath as she wrapped her legs around his waist, drawing him deeper into her body with every thrust. She moaned as Nick's lips found her nipple and pulled it inside of his mouth, sucking and biting gently on the nub._

 _"Nick."_

 _Nick glanced up at her before he moved his mouth to her other breast, showing that nipple the same treatment._

 _"I-I can't…"_

 _"Let it go, Avery," Nick whispered in her ear as he moved faster inside of her, feeling his own body on the edge._

 _Avery pulled his head up to her lips and kissed him before she called out his name as she felt the first wave of pleasure hit, followed closely by a second, clutching him to her body until the last wave had finally subsided. Nick leaned his forehead against her own before he finally pulled out of her and rolled onto the bed beside her._

 _"Give me five minutes," he said as he took her hand in his own._

 _"For what?" Avery asked confused that he was ready to leave already._

 _"Round two," Nick answered as he kissed the back of her hand. "I know you didn't think you were getting off that early. I have a long, long night planned out for us."_

 _Avery laughed as she leaned on her elbow to look at him. "Think you can keep up with me old man?"_

 _"Old man?" Nick mimicked with a laugh. "I don't think you know what old is."_

 _They made love until the early hours of morning until they both finally collapsed with exhaustion_.

Avery opened her eyes as she felt herself being lifted off of the floor. "What are you doing?" She asked looking at Herb, her face hurting with the effort.

"I'm getting you out of here."

"Why?"

Herb opened the door to the van outside and laid her on the floor. "Amelia is dead, she isn't coming back and killing you isn't going to make me feel better."

"Maybe not, but it will make me feel a lot better."

Herb turned to look as he heard Anthony's voice. "Come on, man, this has gone far enough. We need to take her back and get her medical care. She might have HIV, she has broken bones."

"She's going to be dead in an hour."

"You're not killing her."

"You're not going to stop me, Herb."

Avery jerked as she heard a gunshot and a thump. She hadn't realized that Herb had closed the door to the van. She tried to lean up before crying out and falling back as the pain was too much.

Her eyes went to the front door as it was jerked open and she was relieved to see the head of blond hair in the seat, meaning that Herb was the one driving.

"Herb?"

"I'm going to take you back," he said answering her unasked question. His hand moved to his side where he could feel the blood seeping out from the wound. He got the gun from his brother and hit him over the head with it, but Anthony would wake up and neither of them could be there when that happened.

"Thank you," Avery whispered as she allowed the darkness to take over again.


	9. Chapter 9

Nick slammed his hand down on the papers in front of him before he swiped his hand and threw them all to the floor. Grissom watched him from across the table as Nick got up and started to angrily pace the room.

"There is no more information here."

"I agree," Grissom said as he sighed. "I've gone over all the pictures and all the paperwork and the report. Avery was right to sign off that the killer was inconclusive. There just wasn't enough evidence left at the scene."

"We have less than an hour, Grissom! They're going to kill her!"

Grissom ran a hand over his face. "I know that, Nick, but all of Brass's options have come up empty. There are no leads, there's nothing else we can do on this case."

"That's not good enough!"

Sara leaned her hip against the door and crossed her arms over her chest as she watched the men in the room.

"Nothing is going to be good enough until we find her."

"We have no time to find her. Time is up it's over. Your daughter is going to die and you don't even give a rat's ass…"

"Do not even for once to presume to tell me that I don't care about my daughter and that I don't know the peril that she is in. Please tell me what more I can do and I will gladly do it. If you know where Avery is then tell me and I will be the first in there."

"Forget about this shit," Nick said starting to leave the room. "If you don't want to find her then I'm going to."

Grissom got up and started to follow Nick, briefly grabbing Sara's hand as he left the room. "Where are you going, Nick?"

"I said I'm going to find Avery."

"I need you here, Nick."

"I'm not going to wait until we're picking up her body pieces from the desert, Grissom."

"Nick!" Grissom called. "Pancho."

Nick stopped and turned to face Grissom. "I have to find her."

"You're not going to find her by running out in the middle of the night with no direction."

"I can't sit on my hands."

Grissom went to respond before he stopped as a van pulled up erratically. A man got out of the van and opened the back door. Grissom's heart almost stopped as he saw the man pull Avery into his arms. She was bleeding and bruised almost from head to toe. The man laid her on the ground before he stepped backwards and put a hand on his stomach.

"I'm sorry."

Nick knelt down beside Avery and felt for a pulse. "She's barely breathing Grissom."

Grissom looked up at him as he continued to talk to the paramedics on the phone. "She's 27, extensive injuries. We need you here ten minutes ago."

Sara and Greg came out and knelt by Nick to help him with Avery.

"They'll be here in a minute," Grissom said watching as the man was arrested by the cops.

"Is it going to be soon enough?"

"It has to be," he said as he looked back down at his daughter.

Nick thanked Sara as she handed him the cup of coffee before she sat down beside him again. They had been by Avery's side for the last few hours with Grissom showing up sporadically when he wasn't busy trying to find the brother of the man they arrested.

"I'm glad you two are getting married," Sara said as she sipped at her coffee. "You're good for her."

"I don't know how much more she can handle, Sara. Getting shot, almost being blown up, almost being shot, and now this."

Sara pursed her lips as she looked at the girl on the bed. "That's why she needs to take a break. A couple of weeks, a month, she just needs to get away for a while."

Nick nodded. "I plan on taking off a couple of weeks as well. I very briefly discussed it with Grissom. After all of this I just want to spend some time with her."

"Was I going to be included in these plans?"

Nick's head jerked to the bed as he heard Avery's voice. He got up and went to the bed taking her hand in his own. "How do you feel?"

"Sore, everywhere," Avery answered. She leaned her head into his hand as he touched her cheek. "Can you go and get a doctor to up my pain meds?"

"I can go," Sara offered.

"No, please stay, Sara. I need to talk her, Nick."

"Okay," Nick said as he leaned down and kissed her. "I love you so much. I'm so sorry this happened because of me."

"It wasn't your fault," Avery kissed his hand. "I love you too, Nick. Go. And call Grissom please."

Nick kissed her forehead before he left the room. Sara got up and sat on the edge of the bed as Avery gestured her to her.

"What's going on?" Sara asked moving some hair from her swollen face.

"Did you all do a rape kit, Sara?"

Sara opened her eyes slightly as she started to shake her head. "No, we didn't. We had no reason to…I'm so sorry, Avery."

Avery shook her head. "Nothing to be sorry for, Sara. I just need the kit done for my own sense of mind at the very least. And get a nurse in here and make sure they test for a complete panel of STDs."

"That's a normal test with rape cases, babe."

"I know, but the guy who…he is HIV positive."

Sara cursed under her breath as she looked at the wall opposite of her. She was friends with Avery after she had started at the department. Then she started to date Grissom and her and Avery had grown closer. They would never be mother and daughter, but they were close enough to call themselves family.

"We'll make sure they test for everything."

"And yo-you can't tell Grissom."

"Avery."

"This will kill him," Avery said as she reached out and took Sara's hand. "He can't know. I will tell Nick because he has to know and I told you because I want you to collect the evidence from the exam. Other than that no one at the lab knows."

Sara pursed her lips but she nodded. "Okay."

Avery looked up and smiled as the door opened and Nick came back into the room with the doctor.

"How are you feeling, Ms. Grissom?" The doctor asked as he began his exam.

"I'm okay," Avery said wincing as he looked in her eyes with the penlight. "I'm in a lot of pain."

"We'll make sure to give you some more demerol."

"How is the guy who was shot?"

The doctor glanced at her. "He's touch and go right now. When you're ready there are a couple of officers here just to get your statement."

"Okay," Avery said as she glanced at Sara.

Sara nodded in agreement with her as she sat down in her chair again and Nick sat down on the side of the bed.

Avery climbed out of her car and reached over grabbing the food from the passenger seat before shutting and locking her door. She winced as she put her full weight onto her sore leg. It had only been a week since she had gotten out of the hospital and she was still sore in a lot of places. She was elated that her STD results had come back earlier that day and she was free from any diseases, though she did have to test again in six months for it to be conclusive.

She walked into the lab, waving at the receptionist before she headed back to the conference room. She paused in the hallway as she saw Greg, Catherine, Warrick, Grissom, Sara, and Nick sitting around the table discussing a case. She smiled to herself before she walked into the room.

"I brought food for everyone." She dropped the bags onto the table. "Chicken and sides," she looked at Sara and handed her a separate bad. "And for my favorite CSI, I got a veggie burger."

"Well, thank you very much," Sara said as she took the bag before she watched as Nick pulled her into his lap and gave her a chaste kiss.

"We don't have a chair shortage," Grissom said as he continued to look at the picture in his hand.

Avery gave Nick a look before she kissed him again and stood up with some difficulty. "Grissom, can I speak with you?"

Sara looked up at her. She already knew what Avery was going to talk to Grissom about. She gave the younger woman a small smile before she went back to looking at the report in front of her.

"Umm, yeah," Grissom said as he got up and followed Avery down the hall to his office. "What's going on?"

Avery bit her lip as she looked at him. She had worked so hard for as long as she could remember to not disappoint him and to not make him regret taking her into his life. "I'm not going to be coming back to the lab."

Grissom leaned against one of the shelves in the office as he watched her. "You still have another 6 weeks off before you're due to come back."

"Yeah I know, but I'm not coming back at all."

"Why not? You're good at this job, Avery. I don't want to lose you here."

Avery nodded. "I know that, Grissom. I know I do a good job and I know that I can do this job. The problem is that I no longer want to do this job."

Grissom watched her for a few minutes. Avery was everything to him. She had been since the moment he saw her in that alley almost twenty years ago. She had fought so hard to get to where she was and she never let anything hold her back. He knew that she wasn't going to stay as a CSI forever, because he knew that it wasn't where her heart was.

"So what are you going to do? Go back to Mandalay?"

"Actually no." Avery hesitated before she continued. "I got a job on a shark expedition. Out at sea, tagging and tracking, and studying sharks. Six months on the pacific."

"Six months?"

Avery nodded. "Yeah, with the possibility for it to turn into a two year contract depending on how the first six months go."

"How long have you known about this?"

"Well, my old professor contacted me while I was in the hospital recovering and asked if I would be interested. I wasn't at first, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that it was exactly what I needed to do. I love it here and I love the people here, but this isn't me, Grissom. It isn't where my heart wants to be. I just don't want to disappoint you. You've always done so much for me."

Grissom walked forward and put his hands on Avery's shoulder. "You could never disappoint me, Avery. You have been the shining light in my life since the day I took you in as a foster child. I am so proud of you and everything you've accomplished. I'm sorry I don't tell you that enough."

Avery smiled as she stood up and hugged him. "I'm going to miss you so much."

"I knew I never should have let you watch Jaws growing up. You were obsessed with that movie."

Avery laughed as she hugged him harder. "I always rooted for the shark to win."

"When do you leave?"

"Tomorrow morning."

Grissom pulled back and kissed her forehead. "I love you always, Avery."

"I love you too, dad."

Grissom gave her a small smile. "You will keep in contact?"

"At least once a week." Avery sighed and swallowed hard. "Can you send Nick in here? I have to tell him still."

Grissom nodded as he kissed her forehead again. "Be safe and don't forget to take it easy and heal."

"I will," Avery answered him as she watched Grissom turn and leave the office to go and get Nick. She moved behind his desk and sat down in the chair. She was surprised that he had gotten it cleaned up and put back together so quick. She looked at the picture on his desk of him and her when she was about twelve. They had thought to do a pottery class together and needless to say it didn't work out well.

"Hey, baby."

Avery looked up and smiled at Nick as she got up and came around the desk again.

"You should sit," he told her as he helped her lean against the desk.

"No, I'm okay." Avery twirled the ring on her finger before she slipped it off. "I'm going on an ocean expedition starting tomorrow, Nick."

"What?"

"Minimum of six months at sea tracking sharks, with the possibility for a two year contract."

"Two years at sea? What about us?"

Avery looked at him with tears in her eyes. "I'm not sure there can be an us anymore, Nick."

"Don't say that, Ave. I love you."

"And I love you. But this is bigger than us." Avery gestured to the office. "I've been here so much longer than I ever thought that I would because of Grissom and because I loved you. But I'm at the point in my life where all I see are years flying by and I can't continue to do it. I need to do this for me. I need to find myself and not that person that Grissom wants me to be."

"I don't want to let you go."

"I know," Avery said as she slipped the engagement ring back into Nick's hand. "I don't want to let you go either, but I have to. So that I can be me." Avery pursed her lips as she looked at him. She leaned up and wrapped a hand around his neck before she kissed him deeply. "I love you more than I will ever love another person, but I can't stay in Vegas any longer."

"Avery, please don't do this."

"You have work to do, Nick."

"Just wait. I'm off in a couple of hours. Wait at home and we can talk about this when I get off."

Avery kissed him again as she grabbed her jacket and left the office. She walked outside of the lab and leaned against the building, letting the tears flow freely down her cheeks. She knew Nick would come to the house when he got off of work, but they both already knew the truth. They knew she wouldn't be there.

They knew they were over.

 **Hey everyone! So this is the end of Grissom's daughter. Stay tuned for the sequel titled…..drumroll…..Nick's Daughter. Hopefully it will be out in a couple of days, maybe even tomorrow if I can get to it in time. Hope you all enjoyed!**


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